Unit 5 Audio | sebastiankaczmarczyk

AFTER EFFECTS

I have just started working with new software called Adobe After Effects, which I am going to use with next project. This software allows us to edit video and audio clips with graphics and edit them. It works quite similar to software I am using for that purpose - Camtasia Studio. However, After Effects looks more complicated.

This section allows us to manage all files used in our project. There I can upload all images, videos and sounds to edit them.

This section provides a range of options regarding previously included files. There you can give them a variety of filters or make them move.

Brief

Unlike other units Unit 5 is concentrated about something rather unusual for the course - creating audio. It is so, because until now all our work was related to graphics and animations and we have not done any audio files before in this course. Personally, I have exactly zero experience with creating music - I have never done anything like that. We can include animations and graphics, however audio created by us must be in the focus.

This unit might be even more challenging, because we have been given some constraints. First of all, we have to include Band On The Wall logo. This way BOTW will be able to use our videos in the future advertisements. As it is logical way to do things, I believe that all logos except the author's is a bad idea. It makes you to bend your own style so your visuals will match the logo's style.

Another restriction was length of the video - it must be at least 40 seconds long and 80 seconds at most. It meant that I had to animate more frames than I usually do.

As it comes to legal and ethnic issues, we are not allowed to use other's properties and we cannot offend anyone with our work. It not a problem at all - it is just common sense.

Video must be in the MPEG2/4 or MOV format only, while not exceeding 500MB. I do not know if it is much or not, as I have not really worked with videos before. All of videos I have made were short and around 250MB, so 500MB should not be a problem. I think that I will use MOV 1920 x 1080 codec as it would make my video appear much better on a big screen.

Video also needs to be entertaining and suitable for everybody.

I believe that in order to successfully pass this unit I will have to use all my knowledge gained thorough the course as well as things I have learned outside the college. Considering my lack of knowledge regarding creating audio and having just some basic experience with creating videos I shall research a bit further than unit needs me to do. Basically, I will look for tutorials online after we are told about the software we have to use. Right now I have started researching different music videos where audio and video is in sync. Additionally, I will check BOTW's website and look for music videos similar to one I have to produce.

Research

As I have said written before, I have exactly zero experience with creating music. Furthermore, I do not listen to music too often.

Because of that I have decided to look for some songs, music videos and tried to create some music. But let's have everything in an order.

As usual, I have started with doing before planned. I have decided to use GarageBand as it is the only software allowing me to create audio I know. Thinking that GarageBand cannot be complicated I have skipped tutorials and opened 'Write Songs' panel. Immediately some drums appeared at the bottom. After pushing the play button drums started working but I had no idea how to control them. There were some buttons to change settings, however, it was not what I wanted to do. In have imagined this application to work like Camtasia - you just have to move blocks (parts of videos, sounds, texts and graphics) on the timeline. Unfortunately, I have not found anything like that here. I could not find any 'add note' button, so I had no way to use other instruments than drums.

I considered this a total failure but still remained confident. This time I decided to not skip tutorials. Unfortunately, they did not show me to make music with the GarageBand but how to use actual instruments. In the end I understood that this software does not allow you to make sounds, but to put sounds you made before to make music.

Having no more similar apps on the computer I had to look for some music clips.

Visuals do not match music, but instead serve a different purpose - they make this video stand out among others. Bright, pink skin (just like yellow skin in Simpsons) catches attention - you just cannot not notice it. Animation itself is good, especially the flying fragments of Earth in the end.

I think that his video is amazing; visuals are fun, retro and very lively. Song is good as well. The biggest surprise for me was how smooth those pixels were.

Unlike previous songs, I did not like this one. I did not like syncing as well (singer was singing but character was not moving his lips at some moments). However, I think that effects used in order create animation were brilliant I would like to do something like that in my song or some other time.

I really liked how this video synced visuals to music. White line in the middle was moving accordingly to music and lyrics.

Another greatly synced video. There author has decided to separate visuals for vocals and instruments; song was visualised as white shapes, while music was shown as colours and shapes in the background.

After listening to those songs we were introduced to two applications we will use from now on for this unit. One of them is Adobe Audition, software allowing us to edit audio files. The other one allows us to create audio, and it happened to be GarageBand.

It looks like I used GarageBand in a wrong way. I did not know that you can use existing loops or use keyboard to make sounds. I simply assumed that I would have to move notes and put them together.

I have opened new blank project and then tested different instruments. The best one was plain piano but I could not make anything good with it. I simply lack talent in that area. Fortunately, I was able to find some interesting loops from the library.

INSTRUMENTS

LIBRARY

KEYBOARD

TIMELINE

SPECIFIC TIMELINE

Thanks to the GarageBand I have been able to create some music tracks. All of them have been uploaded to my Youtube channel.

I have checked literally every single one loop on my computer before selecting sounds that I liked. In order to create a track I had to find some sounds with similar feel.

Later I decided to create more tracks and prepare visuals for them. I am happy with tracks, but visuals for two of them look quite silly.

Creating those videos was not hard at all - technique behind them is quite simple. You just have to create multiple Spectrums at the same place. In order to create shadows I had to change their colours and side. To create characters I had to change colours and maximum height.

I am exceptionally happy with the last one - Desert. I think that visual looks very good, clean and match music very much (style, not movement). However, the best thing about Desert is that I thought of that technique myself without any tutorial.

Another step was creating something more complicated.

In order to create this animation I had to follow a tutorial on Youtube.

The first thing I had to do was creating a Radio Wave effect and create a polygon inside of it using Masks. Because of that I was able to create polygons moving on the screen. I changed their options such as visibility, colours, width and size.

Next step was creating another layer containing Time Displace and a gradient. It 'chopped' my polygons into pieces. Then I just created additional white Radio Wave and blue Radio Wave and finally added shadows with Scale Wipe effect.

Today we have been introduced to utterly different concept - keyframing audio. This technique allows you automatically adjust effects to the amplitude of sound in the background. Immediately, I tried to incorporate that technique to ones I used before.

After creating new project and composition I have inserted two images in the middle; TV borrowed from google and picture created by me. Then I put another TV and enlarged it, tinted and blurred. It created a borderline which is much easier to notice on white background.

Then I have created radio waves, new gradient composition and adjustment layer and new mask. This way I was able to create those polygons and circles in the middle.

Next step was to use pick whip to connect those radio waves with music and use it to change their hue and rotation.

I am very delighted with the results; videos looks very good and leave a nice impact.

PROPOSAL

During the last five weeks I have been trying to research as many areas as possible and I am sure that I have covered enough already and I am ready to produce my video that will meet all requirements set by the audience and that it will fulfil its purpose. My research has been conducted both during the college time, where I have experimented with the software, and during my free time, where I have researched different music videos. Because of that I am quite confident about this unit;

I know what I am supposed to do. I know that because I have read and analysed the brief and kept my notes and wix updated as we progressed. In addition I was listening to teachers and their suggestions and consulted other students.

I know how others did what I have to do. I know that because I have watches quite many music videos during my research and tutorials for Garage Band and After Effects. It taught me how professionals complete such projects. I have also read articles regarding the topic, thus I think that I have sufficient knowledge at the moment.

I know how to do it. I know it because I have conducted the research regarding the software. I have experimented with Garage Band and After Effects and tried to reproduce techniques used by other people. I made some mistakes, however, I noted them and tried to understand problems and solve them.

I know what to do. I know it because I have produced some initial ideas, analysed them and selected the best one to develop.

PRODUCTION

Thanks to the long research and a lot of planning I was able to decide what I want to do and thus started my video. The first thing I did was creating a root folder containing all assets like images and music. It's thanks to the root folders that we are able to find files we need. Next thing was to create a new project in After Effects and upload all assets inside.

Creating 'base' for the video was quite easy. After all, I have done this before. I just had to create a layers for

Ground;
Sky;
- Sun,
- Sky 2 (light blue near sun),
- Sky (blue),
Cacti;
- Cacti,
- Shadows,
People;
- Bodies,
- Shadows (for Bodies and Faces),
- Faces,
- Hats,
- Shadows (for Hats),
Campfire;
- Wood,
- Fire 2 (red fire),
- Fire (orange fire).

In addition I had music layers for

Guitars;
Synthesizers;
Bass;
All (this layer was used to move Cacti).

After getting all layers needed I had to change their colours and generate spectrums, change their properties such as Frequency, Height, Bands, Thickness and Softness. Thanks to that I was able to make them look exactly as I wanted.

In order to create that transition from night to day I had to change layers' colour over time. I did not use adjustment layer here but actually change colour for every single layer separately.

I was quite happy with the result. However, I think that my other animation 'Desert' was much better.

As my video progressed rendering time became unbearable. As I added one more layer to tint the screen rendering entire video changed from 2-5 minutes to... I do not know. I have started rendering around 10:00 and now (12:09) it's still rendering. I have noticed that some parts (:12 - :24) render faster than other. It shows I might have been using too many effects elsewhere.

Just before exporting this video I got an idea to use another technique I have learned during this unit - radio waves. It was very simple to do; I just had to create two solids and generate radio waves. Then I had to change their shape to circles and play with their expansion, lifetime and width.

The last thing I did was adding the Botw's logo.

FINAL PRODUCT & EVALUATION

At the beginning of this unit I had not sufficient knowledge regarding the subject - I knew nothing about creating music. My knowledge about animating was pretty shallow as well, although I knew more or less about that.

Because of that I am really surprised with the results I have received in the end. I am more than happy with work I have done and how my final product looks.

I believe that I was able to overcome my lack of knowledge with my research, and information I have gained. I have found out some interesting facts about musicians and animators. I have found how hard is their work and why should we appreciate it more; those people have to go through many steps, find inspiration and deal with complicated software.

I am also happy with how I managed to keep up with my wix; I had to upload new information about the development of my audio and visuals and write reflections week after week. It was quite a hard task, considering that most of time we had to spend on polishing our videos, so we had not too much time for writing on wix. Because of that I had to write notes at bus or at home and then upload them on wix. It was not the best way to deal with it, however, it allowed me to work successfully. So, in the end it was not that bad.

Creating audio was a very fun task to me - I am always happy to try new things. Unfortunately, I found it very confusing at the beginning - I have even thought that Garage Band does not allow to create music but just record it! It was a silly thing but soon after I realised that I have started creating new tracks. After some time I had 7 different music projects, every single one using different tracks. It was a nice thing to do; finally something different from creating another poster or graphic.

However, even though it was very fun and interesting, I think that my work is average, if not below average and there is not much I can do about that - people either have a good ear to music or not. As I consider myself as the other group, I do not think that I will ever do something like that. I should let more talented people take care of it, while I should do things I am talented at.

What do I mean? Something like animation.

In order to create those visuals I had to spend many hours researching and reproducing different techniques found on youtube. This way I found that you can do basically do anything with After Effects, as long as you can imagine it. It made me think about many different things. Should I create puppets with Adobe Illustrator? Am I able to create 3D animation? Am I able to create multiple characters and animate them just as I did for other unit?

In the end I have decided to make it simple. I think that it was a good idea, considering it from my perspective right now; month later, knowing how much time it took. In other words - if I tried doing something more complicated I would never be able to finish it before the deadline.

Sadly, not everything went smooth. With every layer and effect placed on it rendering time increased. It increased a lot, in the end time for waiting video to render was absurd; last week I did almost nothing, because video rendered entire lesson.

Considering all that, I am happy with my work. I am happy with how I managed my time and how I solved all problems (except for rendering). I believe that thanks to this unit my work will be much better in the future and I will have less problems with software as well.

AFTER EFFECTS

Brief

​

Another restriction was length of the video - it must be at least 40 seconds long and 80 seconds at most. It meant that I had to animate more frames than I usually do.

As it comes to legal and ethnic issues, we are not allowed to use other's properties and we cannot offend anyone with our work. It not a problem at all - it is just common sense.

Video also needs to be entertaining and suitable for everybody.

​

​

​

​

Research

As I have said written before, I have exactly zero experience with creating music. Furthermore, I do not listen to music too often.

​

Because of that I have decided to look for some songs, music videos and tried to create some music. But let's have everything in an order.

​

Having no more similar apps on the computer I had to look for some music clips.

Visuals do not match music, but instead serve a different purpose - they make this video stand out among others. Bright, pink skin (just like yellow skin in Simpsons) catches attention - you just cannot not notice it. Animation itself is good, especially the flying fragments of Earth in the end.

I think that his video is amazing; visuals are fun, retro and very lively. Song is good as well. The biggest surprise for me was how smooth those pixels were.

I really liked how this video synced visuals to music. White line in the middle was moving accordingly to music and lyrics.

Another greatly synced video. There author has decided to separate visuals for vocals and instruments; song was visualised as white shapes, while music was shown as colours and shapes in the background.

After listening to those songs we were introduced to two applications we will use from now on for this unit. One of them is Adobe Audition, software allowing us to edit audio files. The other one allows us to create audio, and it happened to be GarageBand.

It looks like I used GarageBand in a wrong way. I did not know that you can use existing loops or use keyboard to make sounds. I simply assumed that I would have to move notes and put them together.

​

I have opened new blank project and then tested different instruments. The best one was plain piano but I could not make anything good with it. I simply lack talent in that area. Fortunately, I was able to find some interesting loops from the library.

INSTRUMENTS

LIBRARY

KEYBOARD

TIMELINE

SPECIFIC TIMELINE

Thanks to the GarageBand I have been able to create some music tracks. All of them have been uploaded to my Youtube channel.

I have checked literally every single one loop on my computer before selecting sounds that I liked. In order to create a track I had to find some sounds with similar feel.

Later I decided to create more tracks and prepare visuals for them. I am happy with tracks, but visuals for two of them look quite silly.

Creating those videos was not hard at all - technique behind them is quite simple. You just have to create multiple Spectrums at the same place. In order to create shadows I had to change their colours and side. To create characters I had to change colours and maximum height.

I am exceptionally happy with the last one - Desert. I think that visual looks very good, clean and match music very much (style, not movement). However, the best thing about Desert is that I thought of that technique myself without any tutorial.

Another step was creating something more complicated.

In order to create this animation I had to follow a tutorial on Youtube.

The first thing I had to do was creating a Radio Wave effect and create a polygon inside of it using Masks. Because of that I was able to create polygons moving on the screen. I changed their options such as visibility, colours, width and size.

Next step was creating another layer containing Time Displace and a gradient. It 'chopped' my polygons into pieces. Then I just created additional white Radio Wave and blue Radio Wave and finally added shadows with Scale Wipe effect.

Today we have been introduced to utterly different concept - keyframing audio. This technique allows you automatically adjust effects to the amplitude of sound in the background. Immediately, I tried to incorporate that technique to ones I used before.

After creating new project and composition I have inserted two images in the middle; TV borrowed from google and picture created by me. Then I put another TV and enlarged it, tinted and blurred. It created a borderline which is much easier to notice on white background.

Then I have created radio waves, new gradient composition and adjustment layer and new mask. This way I was able to create those polygons and circles in the middle.

Next step was to use pick whip to connect those radio waves with music and use it to change their hue and rotation.

I am very delighted with the results; videos looks very good and leave a nice impact.

PROPOSAL

​

I know what I am supposed to do. I know that because I have read and analysed the brief and kept my notes and wix updated as we progressed. In addition I was listening to teachers and their suggestions and consulted other students.

​

​

I know how to do it. I know it because I have conducted the research regarding the software. I have experimented with Garage Band and After Effects and tried to reproduce techniques used by other people. I made some mistakes, however, I noted them and tried to understand problems and solve them.

​

I know what to do. I know it because I have produced some initial ideas, analysed them and selected the best one to develop.

PRODUCTION

​

Creating 'base' for the video was quite easy. After all, I have done this before. I just had to create a layers for

Ground;

Sky;

Sun,

Sky 2 (light blue near sun),

Sky (blue),

Cacti;

Cacti,​

Shadows,

People;

Bodies,​

Shadows (for Bodies and Faces),

Faces,

Hats,

Shadows (for Hats),

Campfire;

Wood,​

Fire 2 (red fire),

Fire (orange fire).

In addition I had music layers for

Guitars;

Synthesizers;

Bass;

All (this layer was used to move Cacti).

​

After getting all layers needed I had to change their colours and generate spectrums, change their properties such as Frequency, Height, Bands, Thickness and Softness. Thanks to that I was able to make them look exactly as I wanted.

In order to create that transition from night to day I had to change layers' colour over time. I did not use adjustment layer here but actually change colour for every single layer separately.

Cacti,

Bodies,

Wood,